The preconditions that the opposition delegation to the Syria peace talks has been putting forward are preventing the negotiations from being all-inclusive, Russian Foreign Minister Segrei Lavrov said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“The opposition that we need to work with has so far been putting forward preconditions. That’s why the part of the Russian-American initiative that concerns the necessity of ensuring all-inclusiveness of the negotiations process cannot be implemented, including the inclusiveness of the opposition delegation, which stipulates, of course, the participation of Kurds,” Lavrov said.

The foreign minister added that Russia and the United states have agreed to use their influence on the Syria peace talks participants in order to ensure their adherence to international agreements.

“We agreed today that pressure on all sides must be built up in order for all the participants in the Syria [peace] process to adhere to the Geneva communique and the decisions of the [UN] Security Council,” Lavrov said.